I sat down with Tulane offensive coordinator Eric Price this bye week to talk about the offense, it's progression, and some of the issues that have kept it from scoring in the past two games. With the Green Wave on a two-game losing streak thanks in large part to offensive miscues in the past two games, the self-analysis is in full swing this week in the Wilson Center. Tulane (6-4, 4-2 in Conference USA) plays next when it hosts UTEP Nov. 23 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Q&A with Tulane offensive coordinator Eric Price

Q: The offense is progressing in some ways, but maybe not as fast as you would like?

Price: If you break it down play by play, there are a lot of good things that happened last game and we actually played better in some areas than we had been. Last week, two weeks ago, it was the turnovers right in a row (four consecutive interceptions thrown in FAU game). We’re not explosive by any means and the production isn’t what we want but we’re starting to do some little things here and there, trying to build on it and then turnovers so it was a big step back with trying to correct that. And last week was similar. We played pretty well. We had the ball for 37 and half minutes. I’ve never had the ball that many plays or that much time and not score. We didn’t score. The reason why we didn’t score is we jumped offsides, we had two turnovers there that basically took away points. The goal line fumble and the interception was getting toward the red zone so we felt like we had opportunities. Really it was concentration and it was kind of everyone once or twice but they all did one so it’s really frustrating and disappointing because we take one step forward and then we take a step back and we’re kind of doing that a lot.

Q: Did the offense have issues lining up correctly vs. UTSA. It looked like QB Nick Montana was having to push guys in the right spots at the last moment sometimes.

Price: What we were doing is no huddle and so we would look at the defense and then we would adjust. They weren’t lining up wrong, we didn’t really line up wrong. It was the snap count, it was the jumping offsides that was the big issue. I don’t know (what the problem) was. We did some silent count. They had decent (crowd noise) but I don’t know if it was so loud that we couldn’t hear. And now that’s not excuse at all. There is really no excuse. We just have to concentrate and we can’t sit there and take turns jumping offsides. We’re 3rd-and-2 and we jump offsides in the most critical time of the game.

Q: It seems like Nick Montana took a step forward at quarterback vs. UTSA, true?

Price: Yeah, he did.

Q:Did the false start penalties spoil that progression?

Price: In some ways you can take a lot of positives out of (Montana's progression) but in another way, we can really use (the penalties) as a motivating factor to get back some sort of edge and be disappointed and be on them as coaches and myself. I’m trying to be real critical on what I’m doing and what is the reason why some of these things are happening and why are we not scoring points.

Q: Can some of the inconsistency be attributed to younger guys on offense?

Price: I think it’s natural. But in these close games you don’t have a lot of room for error. We need to score more points. We can’t have the defense shut them out every game and we score once and have us win. That would be nice, but that’s not the real world.

Q: You can’t get cornerback Lorenzo Doss to score a couple touchdowns for you, spot the offense some points (laughter)?

Price: He almost does.

Q: How good is senior running back Orleans Darkwa playing?

A: He’s playing as good as I’ve seen him play right now. He is just breaking tackle after tackle after tackle and he’s making everyone else around him look good right now. It’s a physical style that he has so you are always concerned about him being beat up. I don’t know that you can play him every down like that. We need to block better. But he’s doing a great job. We need to get him the ball more. He’s our guy right now.

Q: Darkwa didn’t start the season as your third-down running back. Why do you turn to him in those situations now?

Price: He is just productive. If it’s third and medium, third and short, he’s going to get the first regardless of blocking almost because he’s going to do it himself.

Q: On the touchdown drive vs. UTSA, Darkwa popped a 20-plus yard run and then was given the ball twice more to finish the drive. Did you adjust your play calling because of the way he was running?

Price: David Johnson (running backs coach) does a great job of rotating those guys when he can. We do trust all those guys. We trust Robert Kelley. He’s not going to fumble all the time (like he did vs. UTSA). He felt bad. We all felt bad but we have to overcome that.

Q: Was there anything he could have done to protect the ball better on that carry? It looks like it got punched out from his blindside.

Price: They did a good job of stripping it, hitting right on the ball. Every play --- it’s kind of like when you are talking about quarterbacks and interceptions – the runs, if this guy would have blocked his guy than that guy would not have been there. You can always break it down and it’s such a team game in that sense to where you no one person takes the blame for each thing so that’s what I try to talk to Kelley about. It’s your job to hold onto the football, but you got hope to hold onto it next time. That’s all you can do from here on out. He felt really bad about it but he’s going to come back with an even bigger chip on his shoulder I think. I think we have a bye week to analyze some things and get our focus back and look at who is playing where and when and self-scouting and things like that. I think we have a another great opportunity. This is really the third game in a row – I told the offense—this is a huge opportunity for us. Luckily, it’s another huge opportunity. All the other scenarios and things you just have to win and that’s all we can do at this point, just win this game.

Q: The speed backs have looked good. Is it a chess match trying to figure out when to insert them in what scenarios?

Price: Banks and Breaux, they are starting to make a few plays here and then so you are seeing glimpses of the future and these kids are starting to figure some things out and get a little confidence, so we just have to build on all these little things and hopefully finally it will pay off with some production. That’s the main thing is producing it with the scoreboard and that’s our job. That’s what we have to do better at.

Price: He did some things in this last game that I kind of expected when we first got him. Some protections broke down and he kind of up in the pocket and slid out to the side and then all the sudden it was first down so it was the old deal where I maybe called a play and maybe it wasn’t a good call and he made it right. He did some things like that where that’s what he got to do. So if he can build on those things, I think he’s going to get a lot more confident in the future. There were a lot of good things, it’s just right now with the bye, it’s very frustrating—I’m kind of glad. Everyone has a little bit of an edge about themselves right now – a little grumpy but I think it’s a good thing because I think we need it. I think everyone needs to take it serious and know that hey, every team we play is pretty much the same regardless of their record.

Q: With all the close games is the league this season, does that mean the conference has parity?

Price: … in Conference USA in the past, if you’re going on the road, it’s tough to win because really the teams are kind of balanced so the home team usually wins. So going on the road to win, you really have to play well and you have to be focused. That’s what we have to do at Rice. And then UTEP, they can come in here and beat us. They’ve done it before many times and we beat them.

Q: Tulane is bowl eligible but there might be too many teams bowl eligible that don’t get bowl bids. Is that a motivation for the team?

Price: I think it would be (if we had emphasized it), but we haven’t really been focused on bowl eligibility at all at this point. I think that we’ve taken more the approach that each week, one game at a time deal but maybe in the back of some of their minds that could be a motivating thing but it’s more they just have to focus on UTEP right now and play like this is our championship game -- just like we did the last two weeks and we didn’t get it done. We have another opportunity to win our seventh game and that’s all we can do at this point and we’re it all ends in the end—whatever bowl we get to, whatever.